Granada Cathedral

About the Cathedral

Granada is Nicaragua's oldest colonial city, dominated by the striking Cathedral of Granada on the central plaza. Originally built in 1583 and rebuilt multiple times after wars and fires, the current neoclassical cathedral with its iconic yellow facade and red-roofed towers has watched over the city since 1915. Standing at the heart of one of Central America's best-preserved colonial towns, it embodies Granada's resilient spirit and rich Spanish heritage on the shores of Lake Nicaragua.

Worship on the site east of Parque Colón dates to a thatched parish church of about 1525, shortly after the city's Spanish founding, rebuilt in stone in 1583. That colonial building was wrecked on 22 November 1856, when filibusters under William Walker dynamited and burned it along with other churches during their retreat from Granada. Work on a new three-nave temple began in 1880 and the first stone of the present neoclassical church was laid on 8 December 1888; funding lapses stalled construction, the facade was largely finished around 1915, and later stages continued into the 20th century. Today the yellow-and-white towers and domed silhouette, seat of the Diocese of Granada created in 1913, mark the city center and appear in most images of it.